1 Million Mass. Residents Exposed to Secondhand Smoke in their Homes

Plus: Yoga in schools; good news for cardio lovers; and more health headlines.

Nearly 1 million non-smoking people in Massachusetts are exposed to¬†secondhand¬†smoke from neighbors. These¬†people¬†live in apartments or attached houses,¬†according¬†to a¬†report¬†released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cigarette smoke can come into homes of non-smokers through ventilation systems, loose floorboards, and windows. Exposure to second-hand smoke has been associated with cancers and heart disease. If you are still smoking, make it your New Year’s resolution to quit. If killing¬†yourself¬†isn’t bad enough, you’re killing your¬†neighbors¬†too. [Globe]

Cardio lovers rejoice! A new study says that running burns more fat than weights. Before you put¬†down¬†the kettlebell, the popularity of all the “push weight” workouts aren’t going anywhere, and¬†strength¬†and¬†resistance¬†training are still¬†important, but for now, those of us that love cardio can sweat in relief. The Duke University study had¬†234 overweight and obese adults who did not exercise regularly assigned to one of three workouts: a resistance training workout (three days of weight lifting a week); an aerobic workout (running 12 miles a week); or a combination workout (three days of weight lifting plus 12 miles of running a week). The workout regimens lasted eight months.The aerobic training group lost more weight and fat mass than the resistance-training group. [NBC News]

A yoga class in San Diego is being protested by some conservative parents. Because this class isn’t in a gym or studio, it is in a first-grade classroom. And the yogis are all 6 and 7-year-olds. The parents think that¬†because the funding comes from the¬†Jois Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in memory of the father of Ashtanga yoga, that¬†religious¬†Hindu beliefs that go with the¬†practice¬†are polluting their minds. Seriously people? ¬†School¬†officials¬†say that doing yoga has a calming affect on the kids and that it promotes their mental and¬†physical¬†well-being.¬†[New York Times]

Shoveling snow can burn off calories from a heavy meal, but it can also send you to the hospital. According to the Cleveland Clinic, if you have¬†coronary¬†heart disease, it’s time to put down the shovel. Shoveling snow sends more than¬†11,000 people to the hospital every year. While most have orthopedic injuries, seven percent have cardiac problems, and many of these are heart attacks. [Cleveland Clinic]

Heavy coffee drinkers are shown to have a lower oral cancer risk. Researchers discovered that people who drank more than four cups of caffeinated coffee a day had half the risk (49 percent) of dying from¬†throat¬†cancers compared to those who only occasionally or never drink coffee.¬†Researchers looked at 968,432 men and women enrolled in the Cancer Prevention Study II, a study conducted by the American Cancer Society.[CBS News]